Conspicuously similar follow-ups to hit singles that became hits in their own right, but are now mostly forgotten because people only remember the first hit

Motorhead's "Motorhead" (taken from Hammersmith and a hit in 1981) sounds a lot like its immediate predecessor "Ace of Spades", but that's cheating because Motorhead had a very distinctive musical vision. Along similar lines I find it hard to tell apart Creedence Clearwater Revival's run of hit singles, but again I'm sure there are lots of blues-rock and punk-rock bands that had a run of near-identical songs simply because that was their style.

Eiffel 65 tried to follow up "I'm Blue" by spinning off the little blue chap in the video into a separate pop career as Zorotl, supposedly because they had access to the CGI model and why not. The song wasn't a hit and it's pretty dreadful but as with the rest of the band's records it sounds as if they had a set of samples loaded into their Akai and a bunch of sequences in Cubase that they tweaked a little bit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdj0uuMxaeg

I bet you a million pounds if you went through Eiffel 65's hard drive all the songs would be called new(1).all and new(2).all etc. The Zorotl project is also notable for having a really old website that was launched in 2000 and still exists:
https://zorotl.com/

They tried to flesh out the character's backstory, but the world wasn't interested. The continued existence of the website implies that success is just around the corner, and perhaps one day the world will fall in love again with late-1990s novelty dance-pop.

The discussion up the page about Aqua made me feel old, because I enjoyed their music on the same level as Carly Rae Jepsen, e.g. it was incredibly professional dance-pop. Nowadays people only remember "Barbie Girl". It's as if people my age - people - are ashamed of their past. Sadly they never really transitioned from novelty band into actual bona-fide band-band, unlike e.g. The Cardigans, who started off as part of the lounge-pop scene but became an actual proper band.

There was an Aqua clone called Toy-Box whose first single was about Tarzan and Jane. I note that their seventh single was called "www.girl", but it was 2001, at which point the internet wasn't as novel as it had been in 1998 or so. While I'm writing this paragraph it strikes me that Ace of Base is a negative example, in that "The Sign" has largely overshadowed "All That She Wants", or at least it gets played on the radio more often, albeit not very often.

I remember that Phats and Small's follow-up to "Turn Around" sounded like a variation of that song with different vocals, but the next single after that was pretty good and is now totally forgotten as is Phats and Small. The Prodigy's "Breathe" has a similar production style to "Firestarter" but when people think about the band they generally picture Keith Flint in the video for "Firestarter". In fact The Prodigy's initial run of singles, e.g. "Charly" to "Wind it Up", sound a lot like each other.

Ace of Base might actually be an example, because their next single after "All That She Wants" wasn't "The Sign" but "Happy Nation", which sounds more like "ATSW" than "The Sign" does ("The Sign" wasn't originally even on their debut album, it was recorded after it came out and was added to its later printings), and which rarely gets played these days.

hah, I remember Toy-Box...I had a friend who was really into that kind of stuff. its weird to come across a band that makes Aqua look subtle and sophisticated, but there it was. I mean Aqua at least had the double-entendre thing down right, Toy-Box was just really suggestive music for kids

Eiffel 65 was Gabry Ponte, a prolific producer of at least a dozen hits in Italy that all sounded roughly the same, and spawned loads of others imitating that sound (like Dragostea Din Tei).

LMFAO: Party Rock Anthem and Sexy And You Know It.

Rather than "Sorry for Party Rocking"?

Motorhead's "Motorhead" (taken from Hammersmith and a hit in 1981) sounds a lot like its immediate predecessor "Ace of Spades", but that's cheating because Motorhead had a very distinctive musical vision.

The song "Motorhead" predates the band Motörhead; Lemmy wrote it for Hawkwind. It was the B-side of "Kings of Speed," from the Warrior on the Edge of Time album. Hearing the original, with sax and violin, is pretty wild.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khwWrGhVNvI

Another Eurodance example: E-Rotic followed their first hit "Max Don't Have Sex with Your Ex" with "Fred Come to Bed", a song that was extremely similar right down to the title/chorus rhyming a guy's name with a sex word. Their third single, "Sex on the Phone", was somewhat different (though obviously still sex-related, as that was their gimmick), and probably nowadays people only remember "Max" and maybe "SotP", but not "Fred".

How Soon Is Now.....Shoplifters of the World Unite

Tone Loc -Funky cold Medina after wild thing.

Apparently there was a follow-up to Gangnam Style that went to #5 in the US and may as well not exist as far as the popular consciousness goes.

Lieutenant Pigeon, "Desperate Dan", #17, Dec. 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXJHNtkEnmY

Chicory Tip, "What's Your Name", #13, May 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeA1T71cR4U

... couple of tracks for any Earl Brutus fans out there.

Apparently there was a follow-up to Gangnam Style that went to #5 in the US and may as well not exist as far as the popular consciousness goes.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, November 6, 2019 10:20 AM (eight minutes ago)

also, something something juggalos

Ten years from now:
PSY- Gentleman

― MarkoP, Friday, November 22, 2013 3:56 AM (five years ago)

just six years, but marko otm

― flopsy bird (voodoo chili), Wednesday, October 16, 2019 4:51 AM (three weeks ago)

Pretty sure that almost everybody under 30 still remembers Gentleman.

29-year-old here who remembers that it exists, but couldn't sing a note if my life depended on it

We can say "Gentle-Men!" but that's about it.

not a Fela Kuti cover I take it

How Soon Is Now.....Shoplifters of the World Unite

this is stretching the definition of follow-up a bit, there were 6 singles in between these 2

Tone Loc -Funky cold Medina after wild thing.

I would think Funky Cold Medina is the more well known of these 2? I may think wrong of course

It was in the UK, but I think he's more known as the "Wild Thing" dude.

I think the same the way as the Colonel tbh

"Forget About You" by the Motors was the conspicuously similar follow-up to "Airport" and doesn't get much airplay these days, although I actually prefer it to the earlier hit.

Conspicuously similar to the theme from "Grandstand" iirc

Always loved "Airport" tbh.

It was a classic of the little-explored "pub synth" micro-genre.

Oh, for some reason I was humming that "I Believe" song by EMF, and thinking that it's not that song that goes "You're Unbelievable"

Animotion’s “I, Engineer” isn’t quite “Obsession” but mostly duplicates it (without anything as catchy as that synth riff).

oh damn I just remembered how "Tarzan and Jane" went and now I want to kill myself

Hey monkey! Get funky!

Oh, for some reason I was humming that "I Believe" song by EMF, and thinking that it's not that song that goes "You're Unbelievable"

look up what their final single was when they split up

I had a roommate who used to play World of Warcraft and listen to garbage Europop & Nightcore all day. like the same 5 songs over and over. "Tarzan and Jane" has permanently scarred me. if you're gonna go that route at least put on something respectable like Scooter!!! all I can think now is I AM JANE AND I LOVE TO RIDE AN ELEPHANT

WHY DO YOU KEEP IG NOR ING ME

Sometimes I think you're me, frogbs. I also had a roommate who would play Eurodance trash all the time: E-Rotic, Toybox, etc. At first, we'd laugh together about how dumb it was, but after the joke wore on me, he'd still be playing the shit out of it. He's an awesome dude and one of my best friends to this day but I think he's still very into that music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gg5LOd_Zus

It's not a follow up but I happened to notice the other day that "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)" by Lee Dorsey is a crafty re-write of "Working in a Coal Mine".
That's probably the most obvious one, but Toussaint and Sehorn recycled licks from "Coalmine" in several other Dorsey sides ("My Old Car" among others).

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, November 4, 2019 12:34 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

"sneaking sally thru the alley" comes to mind

Does anyone remember “Daisy Petal Pickin’” by Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs? Bcuz apparently that was a hit, although I’ve never heard it in the wild.

Nope.

Lee Dorsey example(s) seems good, never noticed before.

Back when Aqua was hitting with Barbie Girl this satire comedian made a sketch where they talked about how they really wanted to prove that they were more than a 'Barbie-band'. Cut to five years later and their next hit is 'Slime, I'm a can of slime, play with me, I'm a can of slime'. And now they really want to prove they are more than just that 'slime-band'. Five years later. 'Tetherbaaaaalllll! Teeeeeetherbaaaalllll!'

In the real world it only took Aqua three years to follow up the album Aquarium and the hit Barbie Girl, with the album Aquarius and the hit Cartoon Heroes...

I don't think there was ever any risk that they would develop into The Cardigans, their sound was too thin, and the split between the artists and the eye candy was too stark. René Dif was a punchline almost immediately.

Yeah, but "Turn back time"

YMCA / In The Navy...?

Israelites / It Mek...?

I'm pretty sure "In the Navy" isn't forgotten, it's probably the best known Village People single after "Y.M.C.A.".

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Mr. Raffles

Tuomas otm.

"Prove Your Love" by Taylor Dayne was very similar to "Tell it to my Heart". Both singles peaked at number 7 on Billboard, but I think most people only remember the first hit. She did have other hits that I think are still played, like "Love Will Lead You Back" from her second album.

“Crossroads”/“1st Of Da Month”

“I Wish”/“Top Of The Stairs”

"René Dif was a punchline almost immediately."

Wikipedia's image of him is very orange:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Dif#/media/File:Ren%C3%A9DifGade.JPG

With the result that if I Google him, the internet believes that he looks like this:
https://i.imgur.com/gB94mJ0.jpg

Many years from now I will wonder why there was a screen grab of Rene Dif on my hard drive.

"Pure Shores"/"Black Coffee"

“Black Coffee” is hardly forgotten (and I might love it even more than “Pure Shores” these days).